Gigabyte GTX970/GTX960 G1 GAMING in SLI and required PSU to run it? 5+ years rig planning.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

Hello folks since I tried to find in the board an asnwer to my question and didn't find(only similar/vague threads to me), I might as well create my own thread.

I want to build a new rig mainly for gaming in a 1920X1080/1080p/1080i resolutions
I mean it to last about 5 years or more if possible, I got to note I'm not even aiming to run anything on 4K and I do not care whether it will run at 4k or not, I Aim it to run games(even the most taxing ones) at the highest possible settings for 5 years or moar. So I ask please to consider the goal of the computer when answering.

I chose those specs for the computer but not sure about the PSU(will get to that later)

MoBo: Asus Z97-PRO LGA1150
Ram Memory: G.Skill 4x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Ares Quad
Case: Antec Nineteen Hundred Black/Green
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0Ghz
CPU Cooler: Antec Kuhler H2O 650
Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1003FZEX 1TB
Network Card: Edimax EW-7722IN nMax PCI 300Mbps

And most important:

GPU: Gigabyte GTX970 G1 GAMING SOC 4GB GDDR5/Gigabyte GTX960 G1 Gaming 2GB GDDR5 (Planning to buy another of the same to SLI in 1/2 Years from now, which is a big factor for the PSU choice, I don't want to upgrade the PSU then, I want to buy one that will support the whole rig including the SLI from the start)

Now I got 3 questions after all is specified.

1. Will a single GTX960 will be enough to run games at highest resolutions for the next or 2 years
or do I really need to put it in SLI to get enough OOMPH for it pull through and even then, will it be enough for the more taxing games. or do I need to go for the more expensive GTX 970, I don't have budget problems but I don't like to overkill and throw money away.
2. I plan to buy a PSU that will give me headroom even after I bought the 2nd card for the 2-Way SLI, I know that the 900 series are power efficient and require less than normal PSU wattages so the same thing mentioned in the first question, how much wattage do I need, will a 850~ Watt PSU will be enough to support the GPU(I plan to make full use of the factory overclock , but I will not overclock further because I don't want to risk burning the GPUs, It's not worth it since the G1 already boast the highest factory OC in the market btween the best brands, that's why I choose this variation of the cards) or will I need to buy a 1000Watt one for the SLI setup for enough headroom - by enough I mean at least 100~ Watt headroom I think
3. Do I need to buy a 80+ Platinum for such a setup or a 80+ Bronze or 80+ Gold will suffice for five years or beyond?

Those are the PSUs that I'm interested in, I'll buy a Seasonic one because at my place they are cheaper and I know Seasonic make top-notch PSUs:

* SeaSonic 850W 80+ Bronze M12II-850
* SeaSonic 850W 80+ Gold X-850
* SeaSonic 860W Platinum-Series
* SeaSonic 1050W 80+ Platinum SS-1050 (Also X series)
* SeaSonic 1050W 80+ Gold X-1050

Note I take in consideration the possibility to take the PSU into my next rig after the 5 lifespan planned for this one, so I don't mind putting some more bang for it but from what I see lately GPUs power curve seems to go downwards, so buying more than a Kilowwat~ PSU seems absurd at the moment taking that into consideration, the main factor is to be able to run the 900 series G1 variant in 2-Way SLI without issues in the long run.

Please give answers considerating all factors and thanks XD

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_970_sli_review,4.html

Any of those ~800W PSUs will do you fine with whatever you get.

As for 960 performance, what resolution and settings are you thinking of playing at? What FPS do you want to achieve?

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

I've already seen that review, It's about the reference/stock models and it says in the last part:

"If you are going to overclock your GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina. There are many good PSUs out there, please do have a look at our many PSU reviews as we have loads of recommended PSUs for you to check out in there. What would happen if your PSU can't cope with the load:"

Hence I'm making this thread to clarify how much "more stamina" is required since I'm buying 1(and planning for 2 beforehand) G1 Gaming Editions, SOCed versions of the card, I need more specific answers since I'm gonna spend plenty of money on this computer, I want it to last XD

About your 2nd point, I want the stable minimum for ALL games in said resolutions, 60 fps minimum without drops at all, I always turn Vsync and for stability and could not care less if the card can run games at 130 fps or not since after 60 I never saw a difference anyway even when I put vsync off in my current computer, so I don't bother with beyond 60.
As I said I'm not really on budget but I dislike Overkill. If a lone G1 GTX 960 could achive that goal(60 Fps at all games in highest settings in the 1920*1080 Resolution) for 2/1 years until I buy a second one, I'll gladly take it over it's pricier big brother.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

axelmar1992 :

Vic 40 :

From all the top Brands available in my vicinity Seasonic is the cheapest and well known for quality, it's a no brainer here for me, those you mentioned are not available and I'm not willing to order them online because warranty messes it may cause, I prefer to have a shop with frontal service which I can rely on for warranty uses.
About the RAM sugestion, The processor I want supports 1333/1600 frequencies, as I said before I'm not overclocking anything beyond factory OCs because I don't have enough understanding on the subject to risk loss of warranty, I'm buying expensive parts after all...
I'm probably taking about the advice to buy 2x8 ram slots instead 4x4 slot RAM sticks though for future upgrades haha.

About the cards, If the GTX960 can run every game in 60fps in HD(1920*1080) for the next 1or 2 years until I buy the 2nd one I'll go with it, otherwise the GTX970, to be honest I'm betting that the 960 can't accomplished that but I want to confirm with other people.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

By the way is the liquid cooler I want is ok or I need something stronger?

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

You can't tell the difference between 60 FPS and 120 FPS, other than input lag, on monitors with 60 Hz for a refresh rate, just to say.

But like I said, any of those ~800W Seasonic PSUs will be good. Their wattage is sufficient, even accounting for degradation and overclocking, especially if you're only using a factory overclock, in my opinion. Factory OCs aren't really that big of a deal. Plus, they're quality units. If you're really worried, go with the 860W Platinum.

The 960 won't be able to hit 60 FPS at every game at the highest settings.

I wouldn't get that cooler. Corsair's been good to most people.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

axelmar1992 :

Vic 40 :

The PSUs you mentioned aren't available, among the top brands at my place Seasonic, is the cheapest and I know for sure they are excellent so it's a no brainer for me to buy one of theirs, as for memory overclock I won't do that because I'm not knowledgeable enough to start risking the warranty of the parts I'm buying which are expensive to say the list, not willing to burn something by mistake and pay the new replacement, nor investing the time needed to learn how to OC things so I'll stick to the stock recommendation of 1600/1333 from the 4790K specs, I'm taking on the advice to go for 2x8 memory sticks rather than a 4x4 combo though, seems a good idea.

Vic 40 · Jan 31, 2015

axelmar1992 :

Now it makes more sense.

(comes from another thread)

I don't think that the gtx 960 will do what you want for the next two years,not at the most demanding settings too i mean.The gtx 970 might not even do that,but will keep up longer.

If the seasonic psu's are a better choice for you go for it.

I think that cpu should support 2133mhz without needing to overclock it,to get the ram working at that speed would you only have to enable XMP in the bios.It should then be working at it's rated speed which would mean no harm.It will also not void warranty.I would at least go for 1866mhz@cas9.

The cooler is fine,the H55 would be fine,the H60 would be fine,the cooler master hyper 212 evo would already be fine.No need for something stronger when not overclocking.I would just use the evo or similar,otherwise probably the H55/60 when not overclocking but only for a cleaner look.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

Well the Antec Cooler parts are from the same manufacturer of the Corsair ones as explained in this review:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3880/antec_k_hler_h2o_620_liquid_cooling_cpu_cooler_review/index.html
So basically it seems it's like buying a Seat and saying Skoda is better when they are more or less the same and have the same origin.

If it really matters the Corsair coolers I'm willing to buy for the price range of the Antec cooler are:

-Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet CPU Cooler
-Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU

But will they be enough to cool the CPU for hours of use if needed?

And about the factory OC, since I'm not planning to OC a thing by myself because lack of knowledge nor the will to learn how to do it, getting a card with a OC with a warranty on it is a pretty big deal since it gives me a big boost for little money increase over the stock model, specially the G1 Version, the clock boost of about 200 Mhz is insane, it's about 20% more power almost for free over reference model.

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

Any of them would be fine. The stock cooler is fine. Are you going to OC the CPU? If not, it essentially doesn't matter what you get, unless you're worried about noise.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

As I said before not planning to OC anything besides the Cards which have factory OCs, will a 850W~ PSU capable of taking care of 16GB and later on 32GB of 1866/2133(XMP enabled as said before) Mhz from the RAM sticks in rated speeds, also is the 4790K capable of abusing such frequencies without start to meddle in OCs and stuff?

Is the difference from 1600Mhz sticks to the 2133Mhz sticks that big though to justify the extra pasta for it?

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

Just set the XMP for the RAM. You don't (shouldn't) have to do anything else.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

Ok I got that but is the performance from 1600Mhz to 2133Mhz really noticeable, also I saw a few threads of people having issues with 2400Mhz ram with my chosen CPU model, will it happen for the 1866/2133 frequencies?

Is the Bronze 80+ Psu capable of carrying the rig for 5 years (from what I saw they don't certify to act regularly at 50c temperature, which from what little understanding I got it's bad because gaming should tax it quite a bit no?)

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

There is almost no difference between those RAM frequencies in terms of gaming.

If you really want to be safe, go with the Platinum.

frag06 · Jan 31, 2015

The 4790K should be able to handle 2400MHz just fine, not that the higher speed will matter for gaming.

Are we talking about SLI 960/970? 650W would be enough and 750W would give you OC headroom; 800W+ is way more than enough.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

I'll go with the Platinum 860W unit then, the Gold one have negligible diference in price and I WANT to play it safe afterall, also from some sites it seems to me that setting higher frequencies may be considered to OC the MoBo, is it true?

frag06 :

I'll be going with a single GTX970 and I'll buy another in 1 or 2 years and set them to SLI to boost performance and lifetime of the rig, what will I achieve by using higher frequency sticks, if not smoother gaming?

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

"....may be considered to OC the Mobo"? What?

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

Also, Kingston HyperX Beast 2x8GB DDR3 2400/2133MHz is the only kit I got in the shop I plan buying the system from, is this kit good? Will it run ok?

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

This is from the Kingston site XMP Certification article on the Z97

Intel 4th generation refresh Core i7, i5 and i3 processors
LGA-1150 socket
Supports dual channel memory (4 DIMMs total).
Up to 32GB supported
Spec speeds: 1333/1600MHz
Overclocked Speeds: 1866–2800MHz
PCIe storage — M.2(NGFF) and SATA Express
8 PCIe 2.0 Ports
14 USB ports (6 @ USB 3.0)

Do they mean the MoBo is OCed in those speeds or is it something else, my understanding of computer specs is not so bad but not so vast either, sorry if I'm spouting non-sense....

frag06 · Jan 31, 2015

Memory operating over 1600MHz is considered overclocked.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

frag06 :

So it's like buying a factory overclocked RAM stick, cool, what will change in performance if I do buy sticks at such frequencies?

ihog · Jan 31, 2015

Pretty much nothing with change for gaming performance from 2400 MHz to 1600 MHz RAM.

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

ihog :

Then I'll stick to the 1600MHz Sticks, seems like a waste of cash to get the higher-frequency ones...

axelmar1992 · Jan 31, 2015

Also I notice that there are Low Voltage version of the RAM, they cost a bit more for some reason, is the difference only in the electricity bill or there is something else hidden about it?

frag06 · Jan 31, 2015

At 1600MHz (up to 1866MHz) you want 1.5V RAM. Up to 1.65V is safe but at 1866MHz and below it indicates poor quality chips in most cases.

Once you hit 2133MHz you will start to see 1.6V - 1.65V more often. At 2133MHz it's no longer an indicator of poor quality chips as you need the extra voltage.

Gigabyte GTX970/GTX960 G1 GAMING in SLI and required PSU to run it? 5+ years rig planning.

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